Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Ceviche
Fresh white fish cured in lime "leche de tigre" with red onion, chili, and cilantro, Peru's national dish.
Peruvian · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 0 min
~175 cal · 23g protein · 21g carbs · 1g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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is the national dish of Peru and a genuine point of national identity, celebrated with its own official day. Its lineage stretches back two thousand years to coastal cultures who fish with fruit long before the Spanish brought limes and onions.
The modern Peruvian version is bracingly fresh and quick: cubes of firm white fish are tossed with lime juice, sliced red onion, chili, and cilantro, curing in minutes rather than hours so the fish stays almost raw and tender. The tangy, spicy marinade left behind is the prized leche de tigre, tiger's milk.
Served at once, classically with sweet potato and corn to balance the acid and heat, it is clean, vibrant, and alive. It is the cold current's superb seafood, treated with respect and a bright, fearless hand.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 lb very fresh firm white fish (sea bass, corvina, sole, or flounder), cubed
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 ají limo or serrano chili, minced
a handful cilantro
1 sweet potato
1 ear choclo (large-kernel Peruvian corn) to serve
Hard to find? 1 ear frozen or canned choclo from a Latin grocer, or corn on the cob at a pinch - ordinary sweetcorn is much sweeter and far smaller in the kernel; choclo is starchy and mild, and it is there as a plain foil to the acid rather than as something sweet
1/2 cup cancha (toasted corn nuts) to serve
Hard to find? 1/2 cup plain salted corn nuts - sold everywhere as a snack and close enough; buy them unflavoured, since the point is salt and crunch against the lime
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Rinse the sliced red onion in cold water to soften its bite; set aside.
2
Toss the fish (or hearts of palm) with salt and pepper, then the lime juice and chili, and let it cure just 5 to 10 minutes until the edges turn opaque.
✎ Chef’s note
Short is the whole point. Modern Peruvian ceviche is mixed and eaten within minutes; leave the fish in lime any longer and it goes chalky and tough.
3
Fold in the onion and most of the cilantro just before serving.
4
Spoon into cold bowls with plenty of the leche de tigre.
5
Serve with boiled sweet potato and choclo alongside, and a scatter of crunchy cancha, to balance the acid.
Lima classic.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lima. Causa is Lima's, layered cold from yellow potato mashed with lime and aji amarillo around a filling of chicken, tuna or crab. Its name is said to come either from selling it por la causa to fund San Martin's campaign or from women feeding soldiers during the Pacific War, and neither account is settled. Picarones, squash and sweet-potato rings in chancaca syrup, are the colonial answer to Spanish bunuelos.
🗺️
Peru. Peru's cuisine spans coast, mountain, and jungle, elevated by waves of Japanese and Chinese immigration into ceviche, lomo saltado, and a world of native potatoes and ajíes. Recognized globally, it turns Andean staples and Pacific seafood into some of the world's most celebrated food.
🌍
South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Peru
Lomo SaltadoBeef flash-fried in a smoking wok with soy, vinegar, tomatoes, and fries, Lima's Chinese-Peruvian icon.
Rocoto RellenoArequipa’s fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with spiced beef, olives, and raisins, capped with melting cheese.
Pan con ChicharrónCrisp fried pork and sweet camote layered in a soft roll with tangy salsa criolla, the definitive Lima weekend breakfast sandwich.
Browse all Peru recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Peru meal
Pisco SourDrink
Suspiro a la LimeñaDessert
Ají de GallinaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Ceviche?
Fresh white fish cured in lime "leche de tigre" with red onion, chili, and cilantro, Peru's national dish.
Where does Ceviche come from?
Ceviche is a Peruvian dish from Lima, Peru.
Can Ceviche be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ceviche recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ceviche safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ceviche take to make?
About 25 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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